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SH girls end drought with rout of Rebels

Focus on pounding ball inside pays off; Moss, Olson combine for 23 points in Hawks’ win

South Hamilton senior Autymn Olson (23) knocks down a short jumper over Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Madison Denny-Weber (12) during the first half Tuesday night in Reinbeck. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

REINBECK — The tension and frustration that have all too often followed the South Hamilton girls’ basketball team around the hardwood took the night off on Tuesday.

In their places were smiles and high-fives — certainly a welcome sight for head coach Mark Henderson and his players.

South Hamilton didn’t just pick up its first victory of the season. Rather, the Hawks blitzed Gladbrook-Reinbeck from the opening tip and never pulled off the gas in their 54-28 trouncing of the winless Rebels.

South Hamilton (1-11) ended a 16-game slide and the 54 points it produced were the most by a Hawks team since a 72-63 victory over Manson-Northwest Webster way back on Feb. 14, 2012.

“It felt really good and we just worked really well as a team,” South Hamilton junior guard Anna Moss said after she spearheaded the rout with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. “Getting some points early really helped. Having that little extra giddy-up in the beginning was very helpful and got our energy up.”

South Hamilton’s Anna Moss strips the ball from Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Taylor Gienger as teammate Bree Hodnefield (25) helps on the double team on Tuesday. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Moss rained in a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers and Taylor Ratzke banged home another triple from the corner to help the Hawks procure a 13-4 lead.

Leading 15-5 early in the second quarter, the Hawks watched Gladbrook-Reinbeck (0-12) reel off seven consecutive points to close to within 15-12, but right about that time South Hamilton erupted.

A 17-0 run to close out the first half put the Hawks in command, 32-12, and the spurt reached 22 straight points early in the third quarter.

Autymn Olson, a senior post player, played a pivotal role in the outburst. She came off the bench to score eight of the closing 17 points of the first half on her way to a season-high 10 points.

South Hamilton head coach Mark Henderson, who earned his first victory in charge of a program, has spent the past few practices stressing the importance of pushing the ball inside and his players took notice. The Hawks scored 22 points inside the paint and notched another eight points at the charity stripe following fouls in the lane.

Hawks’ guard Rylee Woodall has her baseline drive cut off by Taylor Gienger. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“That was awesome to see,” Henderson said. “That’s what we talk about is being aggressive and taking it to the basket. But I’ve told them that it doesn’t necessarily have to be on a drive, it can be on a dribble and bounce pass into the post.”

Henderson was particularly thrilled for Olson, who had her breakout game of the season.

“Autymn always works hard and, for whatever reason, she hasn’t been able to put it all together in a game,” he said. “But she did (Tuesday night) and I was very happy for her.”

Another run, this one a nine-point burst, pushed the Hawks lead to 52-21 early in the fourth quarter. Taylor Volkmann connected on a mid-range jumper and Ratzke buried another 3 from the corner during the run.

Ratzke finished with seven points, one more than Bree Hodnefield, while Marla Grubb, Rylee Woodall and Paxton Wicks all pitched in four points. Wicks, another interior player who came off the bench, supplied 11 rebounds. Woodall distributed three assists.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

A total of 10 different Hawks reached the scoring column, another season high.

South Hamilton shot a respectable 32 percent from the floor (20 of 62) and out-rebounded the Rebels 56-27. Gladbrook-Reinbeck made only seven of its 44 field goal attempts (16 percent).

Taylor Gienger led the Rebels with 11 points.

After such a long run of futility, Henderson said any win is big. But neither he nor his players exited the gymnasium satisfied.

“It would have been easy to give up at any point this season, so I’m glad the girls have continued to work hard,” he said. “But we don’t want to be happy with this. We want to turn this into two and three and four wins and try to finish the season out strong.”

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

So. Hamilton 54, Gl.-Reinbeck 28

Tuesday at Reinbeck

South Hamilton (1-11) — Brittany Spindler 1 0-0 2, Rylee Woodall 2 0-0 4, Anna Moss 5 0-0 13, Breanne Diersen 1 0-2 2, Taylor Volkmann 1 0-0 2, MaKayla Tapper 0 0-0 0, Autymn Olson 3 4-5 10, Bree Hodnefield 1 4-4 6, Taylor Ratzke 2 1-2 7, Marla Grubb 2 0-0 4, Paxton Wicks 2 0-0 4, Jenna Woodall 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 9-13 54.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (0-12) — Maddie Firschmeyer 1 4-7 7, Megan Swanson 1 0-1 2, Madison Denny-Weber 1 1-2 3, Taylor Gienger 3 4-7 11, Rachel Cooley 1 1-4 3, Kayla McDonough 0 2-5 2. Totals: 7 12-26 28.

So. Hamilton 13 19 11 11 — 54

Gl. Reinbeck 4 8 9 7 — 28

3-point field goals — SH 5 (Moss 3, Ratzke 2); G-R 2 (Firschmeyer, Gienger). Rebounds — SH 56 (Wicks 11, Moss 10). Steals — SH 11 (Moss 4). Assists — SH 13 (Woodall 3). Team fouls — SH 19, G-R 15. Fouled out — SH: Diersen.

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